1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to accessories for golf clubs. More particularly, the invention relates to a golf practice aid adapted to releasably attach to the face of a conventional golf club to assist a golfer in improving accuracy in consistently striking a golf ball with a desired approach path and at a desired central location on the face of the club.
2. Description of Prior Art
Golf requires precise repeatable motions to strike the golf ball and eventually roll the ball into a cup in the ground. Contacting the ball with precise repeatable motions is one of the most difficult aspects of the game. To that end, many prior golf practice and training aids have attempted to assist golfers achieve this desired consistency when striking the ball.
Many prior golf training aids require clubs or other aids designed specifically for practice sessions. For example, numerous practice clubs and training systems utilize special club or grip configurations to teach correct form and motion for a swing or stroke of the club. Unfortunately, difficulties occur when switching from such special training devices used in practice sessions back to a golfer""s regular clubs for regular play such as tournament, competitive or leisure golfing. Often the lessons and skills learned during practice with specialized clubs are lost when returning to the golfer""s regular set of clubs due to the differences in weight, club length, club height, grip, shaft stiffness or flexure, and the numerous other club performance and dimensional parameters. Therefore, it is desirable that a training system for improving accuracy of a golfer""s swing or putting stoke would utilize the golfer""s regular clubs.
In addition, specialized practice clubs require the golfer to purchase the specialized club in addition to a set of regular clubs, and are often relatively expensive. On the other hand, a training system for improving swing or stroke accuracy that utilizes a golfer""s regular clubs would eliminate the need to purchase additional clubs, and would result in less expense to the golfer.
A few prior specialized putters attempt to address the problem of purchasing additional putters for training. These specialized putters are adapted for conversion between a training configuration and a regular play configuration. Such arrangements are disclosed in Petz U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,078 and Archer U.S. Pat. 5,135,229. Nevertheless, these arrangements still require the purchase of the specialized clubs. Thus, golfers that already own a set of clubs must still purchase additional clubs for practice.
There are also several prior practice aids adapted to attach to a regular putter for assisting the golfer in improving stroke accuracy. However, these prior arrangements tend to be difficult to attach and detach from the putter, and awkward to use and store between uses. They also tend to be rather bulky and add substantial weight to the putter, thus altering the feel and performance of the putter during practice sessions, and presenting the difficulty of transferring the practiced stroke into regular play when the aids are not attached.
For example, Watkins U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,153 and Eulau U.S. Pat. No 5,351,961 disclose prior golf stroke training devices specific to improving putting accuracy. Watkins discloses a putting aid that comprises a relatively long U-shaped bracket attached to a putter head with a rubber band, with the parallel legs of the bracket forming a guideway for approaching and striking the ball. Eulau discloses an alternate device connected to the front of the club with spaced prongs extending forwardly therefrom to assist the golfer in alignment between the center of the club and the ball. Unfortunately, both of these arrangements are relatively bulky, heavy and awkward to use. Shier U.S. Pat. 5,441,268 requires both straps and loops to secure guiding blocks into position on the face of the putter. None of these prior arrangements provide feedback to the golfer in the event of a mis-hit such as to give an indication of whether the club struck the ball near or relatively far from the center of the putter.
Other types of prior putting training aids are also disclosed in the art. For example, Wolk U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,695 describes an adjustable golf putting system that uses a training track, and a guide which attaches to the head of the putter. Weathers U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,675 concurs that the prior arrangements of earlier patents are awkward to handle and incorporate inadequate attachment. Weathers then discloses a one-piece system with two parallel guide members that incorporate a clamp system such as is designed to fit in the cavity in many modern putters. Nevertheless, the Weathers arrangement is still rather heavy and difficult to use.
In view of the foregoing, it is clear there is a need for a golf training aid for improving ball striking accuracy of a golfer""s swing or stroke that (a) utilizes a golfer""s regular clubs, thus eliminating the need to purchase additional clubs and resulting in less expense to the golfer, (b) is light weight and easy to attach and detach from the putter, thus maintaining essentially the same weight and feel of the club between practice and regular play, and (c) is unobtrusive and easy to use and store between uses.
The general aim of the present invention is to provide a new and improved golf practice aid adapted to assist the golfer in improving his or her putting stroke and ball striking accuracy and consistency.
A detailed objective of the invention is to provide a golf practice aid that is adapted for use with a conventional putter, but that does not affect the feel, stroke and ball-striking characteristics of the putter, or the path of a properly hit ball, between practice and regular play. This eliminates the need to purchase specialized clubs, and promotes the carry-through of the stroke learned in training sessions to regular play.
Another detailed objective of the invention is to provide a golf practice aid that is easy to use, unobtrusive during use, and is relatively compact for ease of handling and storage between uses.
A more detailed objective is to achieve the foregoing by providing an aid that is light weight and adapted for ease of attaching to and detaching from the face of a conventional club.
Another detailed objective of the invention is to provide a practice aid that permits striking of a golf ball within a central zone, near the center of percussion, on the face of the putter in a normal manner, but that provides immediate audio-visual feedback to the golfer in the event the club strikes the ball with an improper stroke or outside the central zone to permit appropriate correction during the golfer""s next stroke.
A more detailed objective is to achieve the foregoing by providing a golf practice aid adapted for changing the direction and speed of the ball upon striking the ball outside the central zone during practice training.
Another detailed objective of the invention is to provide a golf practice aid that permits progressive training as the accuracy of the golfer""s stroke improves.
Yet another objective is to provide such a golf practice aid adapted for use not only with putters, but with other type of golf clubs, for use in developing accurate stroke or swing habits associated with such other clubs.
These and other objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Briefly, one preferred embodiment golf practice aid of the present invention includes a pair of light weight error amplification deflectors releasably attached to the face of a putter with complementary, resilient hook and loop patches such as VELCRO brand patches. The error amplification deflectors are sized and spaced on each side of center so that central portion of the putter face is unobstructed for striking the golf ball in the normal manner, but are shaped to deflect the ball in a direction away from its otherwise normal path, and at a reduced speed in the event of impact with the ball to indicate to the golfer that the swing was off-center.